Thread: 1 year plateau
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Old Wed, Mar-30-11, 11:35
akman akman is offline
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Posts: 55
 
Plan: General Low Carb
Stats: 240/175/190 Male 5'11
BF:
Progress: 130%
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I have a theory on why LC stops working after a while or right from the start. LC needs to also be moderate protein and high fat.

OK - We know carbs have 4 calories per gram, protein has 4 calories per gram, and fat has 9 calories per gram.

On a 2100 calorie diet, with 20 grams of carbs a day, one should also be eating 120 grams of protein and 160 grams of fat.

This is based on a ratio of 3% carbs, 22%protein, and 75% fat. Which is pretty close to what all the low carb diets recommend for 'induction'--please someone step in if I'm wrong.

A sample daily menu of that would be:
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (0 carb/90g prot/3g fat)
1 3oz portion of sirloin steak (0 carb/25g prot/6g fat)
1/2 a banana (20g carbs/1g protein)
12 Tablespoons of Olive Oil (168g fat/0 carb/0 fat)

Total for this day would be 20g carbs ~ 80 calories (3%); 116g protein ~464 calories (22%); and 177g fat ~ 1593 calories (75%) for a total of 2137 calories.


Now, no one would want to eat like this! But, if you take in too much protein, I've read your body will treat it like excess carbs and it won't lead to body-fat loss. So, we need to find ways to add fat without adding protein. Good ways I see are chicken w/skin, fatty cuts of meat, coconut oil, olive oil, peanut butter, cream... you get the picture.

Looking at the Original Poster's sample menu, I think it looks a little protein heavy. Maybe he (and all of us) could benefit by re-examining or protein to fat ratios and adding adjusting if needed.
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